Hirosaki, The Outcast
by Neji1988
Summary: This is my story...it may not be a fairy tale but it is my lifeMy Name...is Neji Hirosaki and this is my story, Its been 3 years since I saw my family3 years since hugs and kisses, 3 years since any friendly smiles, the time now is 1.39am.I've bee.
1. Chapter 1 The Beginning

Chapter 1 The Beginning

This is my story...it may not be a fairy tale but it is my life.  
My name...is Neji Hirosaki and this is my story… it's been three years since I last saw my family, three years without hugs and kisses, three years without any friendly smiles. The time now is 1:39 am. I've been hiding in an uncomfortable treetop for 2 days now, twisted into a position that has made my spine and legs go numb, being hunted for a mission that I took Even so, I have no regrets for what I have done. I want people to understand the road that led me here…

A small boy was hid behind an old tree trunk, giggling with excitement. An older boy with spiky hair and a big grin ran out of the bushes and towards the little kid. He scooped him into his arms and said "Hah! Got you Meji!" and hugged the little boy to him. Meji squirmed and laughed in the older boy's arms and said, "Don't you think you're a little too old to hug me bro"  
"Nah, you'll always be my little brother" the older boy said happily, as he laughed and ruffled his little brother's hair.  
"Dinner is ready!" shouted a lady at the door. She wore a long orange skirt and had her hands on her hips as she called to her two sons.  
"Awww, Mom can we have just ten more minutes?" complained Meji while playfully punching his brother.  
"No Meji, you've been playing with Neji for an hour now, I think your brother needs some rest," snapped his mother.  
After hearing the ring of a small bell, she turned around and headed back into the house, leaving Neji in charge of getting his little brother to eat dinner against his will. Neji quickly scooped Meji back into his arms and carried his brother towards the house. "Let me go!" Meji cried, kicking and fighting Neji all the way into the living room.  
"What's going on here?" asked a man. This man sat in an oversized leather chair, comfortably attired in a black shirt, with his bare feet propped up on the coffee table. He looked up from his book titled The Black Bingo Book: Konoha's Top Wanted Shinobi Criminals at the two boys, his short, bristly black hair shining in the sun. He looked like the kind of person that laughed a lot, mostly because he was also the kind of person who had experienced death, been so close to death that it almost became a part of him.  
"Meji doesn't wanna have dinner," explained Neji, trying to hold back his laughter.  
"Let me go bro, I wanna show dad something!" Meji said while squirming out of his brother's tight grip. Neji finally let Meji go so that he could show his dad what he had learned.  
"Bro taught me a new jutsu today," Meji said with a burst of laughter yet a bit of pride. He believed himself to be on the verge of greatness and brilliance, as most young children do, and he also had a smirk on his little boyish face that suggested there was a bit of mischief involved in the ninjutsu lesson his older brother had given him.  
"What's so funny?" asked his dad curiously while watching both his sons giggle with the knowledge of something that he had yet to see.  
"Perverted No Jutsu!" Meji shouted and turned into a sexy brunette, complete with wispy clouds of smoke to cover his full nudity.  
"What the hell?!!!" exclaimed his dad, as he glared at Neji as if to scold him for teaching such a perverted trick to his younger brother. Neji started to laugh when his dad glared at him; it seemed that neji had only taught his brother that jutsu on purpose to get his dad into trouble...trouble that walked in, trouble in the form of their mom.  
"What's that!" she shouted as she pointed at the naked brunette standing surrounded by little wisps of smoke, right in the middle of the living room.  
Shocked and a little dismayed, their dad responded quickly with a laugh and said "It's Meji, blame him," only to have his youngest son look at him and say in the sexiest voice "Madara Sama"  
Neji quickly grabbed his little brother, not having realized that he would take the new jutsu so far as to make his dad look like an adulterer, although he found it rather funny and a little clever for such a young kid to trap his father, an accomplished and world-renowned ninja, with such a trick as that.  
"But Neji, isn't this the reason for the jutsu?" asked Meji while transforming back into his child-like body.  
"Yeah this is good, but man are we gonna get grounded," Neji said while laughing his arse off.  
The brothers looked into the living room to watch their mother beat up their father for having stared at a naked girl, quite astonished to see their dad, who was once rumored to be the greatest ninja there ever was, be slapped around by their mother.  
"Dinner is ready!" their Mom called while dragging their dad into the dinning room.  
The boys sat opposite each other, and snuck glances full of amusement at each other for the rest of dinner. They used all their energy on not laughing out loud at their father, which was a hard task to complete since their father's left cheek was swollen and he continually rubbed his bottom where their mother had kicked him repeatedly. Eventually they couldn't hold it in any longer, and the soup that was in their mouths went splattering everywhere once they finally laughed out loud. Their father only glared at them, although they could see that he too was holding back his own laughter, and their mother simply pretended that nothing had happened.  
"So what's new Neji?" his mother asked without breaking a sweat, still kicking their father for not sitting up straight at the table.  
"Erm...nothing much. Itachi taught me a new trick today," Neji said while trying to get his food down his throat without laughing or choking.  
Meji started to laugh when he realized how much his brother and his dad looked alike, only to be scolded by his mom for not finishing his veggies and for not wiping his mouth.  
"You know son, that Itachi kid is pretty talented, you should invite him over someday," his dad said, cutting up his steak with a razor sharp kunai, since normal knives were not good enough, and besides, according to Madara, they weren't as cool.  
His mother asked, "So how's Konoha doing"  
"Well, the 3rd is still inventing new jutsu's and erm… Jiraya sama is still at the lake, peeping at women in their bathing suits," Neji laughed.  
After dinner it was time to go to bed; Neji and Meji shared a room so they were all tucked in and ready for their "traditional" story time.  
"Yay! Story time!" Meji excitedly wiggled with joy in his bed.  
"Come on Dad! One more story of your battles," Neji said, trying to convince his dad to tell them. His stories were always full of suspense, honor, and real war. They were true, and they were lessons that Neji could use in the real world. But most of all, he loved his father's stories simply because they were his father's, because he was happy just to listen to his dad, and because he was proud of his father.  
"Alright, let's see…what story should I tell today?" said their father while sitting down on his rocking chair.  
"It was 5 years before Neji was born, the 3rd sent me on a mission to Iwagakure to find out where they were planning to attack Konoha from… WHEN SUDDELY…" his father paused for dramatic effects and let his eyes grow big as if what he had seen back then was the most incredible thing any human being could behold in their lifetime, so naturally Neji and Meji wanted to know.  
"OMG! What happened" Meji interrupted his dad, with his mouth open and dry with anticipation. By just looking at him, you could tell that his little imagination was running wild with images of beasts, giants, monsters, demons, or enemies. His mind was restless in its generation of possibilities.  
"Well...I saw...a GIANT glowing fox, with an even bigger tail, a tail so strong he could crush half a country in a single flick of it. He looked like he was almost made completely outta fire, his eyes glowed with the pure evil of hell...I had never seen such a beast, so I carefully made my way over to it...and..." their father paused once again to build up the suspense.  
"AND???" The 2 boys stood up from their beds, wide-eyed and practically drooling from their dropped jaws.  
"And…it's time for you boys to get some sleep," their mom came in, spoiling their chances of getting to know the end of the tale.  
"Tomorrow night, ok guys? Now go to sleep," their dad managed to say before being dragged out of the room.  
"Wow, dad really is courageous. Do you think we will be grow up to be like that too?" Meji said as he looked over at his brother with eyes full of imagination and wonder.  
"Yeah I guess so, we are his sons," Neji replied proudly.

It started to rain, and Neji was stealthily traveling through the trees, trying to get away from someone or something…  
""He's over there!" shouted a hoarse voice in the background.  
"Crap they found me..." Neji said to himself while jumping from tree to tree, wearing his straw hat and his black cloak with red clouds floating on the cloth, symbols of the rebel life he had been leading. It seemed he couldn't outrun the man that had been chasing him. A man dressed just like him, stood in his way and grinned evilly, and Neji realized he had no choice but to confront him.  
"Where are you going Neji?" the man said with a twisted grin.  
"Itachi, you were like a brother to me and you have betrayed me! Why?" Neji shouted.  
"...It's simple...You're the enemy" Itachi said with an emotionless face.  
Neji realized, as he stared into the sharingan of Itachi, that the days when his childhood was simple and pure were long gone. 


	2. Chapter 2 Friendship

Chapter 2 Friendship

Staring into the eyes of his "best friend", Neji saw how much his so called "best friend" hated him.  
"What have I done to be hated so much?" Neji asked as he was stared into Itachi's menacing Sharingan.  
"Neji...you betrayed Akatsuki," Itachi smirked with satisfaction as he looked down upon Neji's sorry state.  
"WHAT I HAVE DONE IS FOR KONOHA!" Neji shouted at Itachi, full of anger.  
"Konoha? That village has done nothing for us…making us kill our own clan just to infiltrate some organization? Who would do something like that?" Itachi questioned Neji.  
Neji fell silent, not knowing what to say, and as he cautiously analyzed his surroundings Neji figured that there was no other hope of escape besides killing Itachi, but could he really do that…could he kill his best friend?

"Wake up boys!" A lady shouted while opening the curtains, filling the room with the morning sunlight.  
"5 more minutes Mom," Meji complained as he pulled his blankets up to his head to avoid the sunlight.  
"Neji, wake up its time for your training," his mom commanded.  
"Yes mom, I'm awake," Neji said while rubbing his eyes and looking gloomy.  
"Shiso honey, leave the kids alone," Madara said as he walked into the room sipping a hot cup of coffee.  
"Don't tell me what to do Madara," Shiso countered angrily while yanking Meji's blanket off of him.  
"Awww MOM!!!" Meji jumped up from his bed and dragged himself to the bathroom, still half asleep.  
"So Neji, today you are meeting your sensei for the first time huh?" said Madara, still drinking his coffee as if it was his lifeline.  
"Yup, and Itachi is in the same group as me," Neji said happily while making his bed on his side of the room, the side that was much neater than the other side, as it was Meji's corner.  
"Heh, so Itachi is with you huh Neji? And who is the last member or your three man cell?" Shiso asked while tidying Meji's bed.  
"Well, it's some kid named Takashi. I don't really know who he is, but he has a very cute panda bear" Neji proclaimed.  
"Ok, that's good; Pandas are pretty fierce animal companions. They're able to do all sorts of complementary jutsu with their partners. So who is your sensei?" Madara asked neji.  
"Erm….they said it was Arashi Uzumaki, but frankly he didn't turn up, so I think it might be another guy," Neji answered. Madara could sense the little disappointment in his voice.  
"Well, I bet it's someone good Neji… MEJI GET OUT OF THE TOLIET NOW!!!" Shiso shouted.

While walking to Konohagakure, Neji wondered why his family wasn't allowed to stay in Konoha, and then he remembered that his dad once said that the only reason they weren't staying with the other Uchiha's was because they weren't really Uchiha's. Neji's dad had explained that their family had taken their mother's last name, but his father hadn't explained why. Neji was in the middle of trying to figure out the reason why they hadn't taken Madara's real last name, but he had entered Konoha and saw his best friend Itachi waving at him.  
"Neji, I'm over here!" Itachi shouted while waving his arms in the air to catch Neji's attention. "Hi Itachi!" Neji shouted back, running towards Itachi like he hadn't seen him in ages.  
"So you ready to meet our new sensei?" Itachi asked while placing his arm over Neji's shoulder.  
"Well… I thought it was the Arashi Sama but I don't think it will be him now" Neji said. Just then Neji saw a girl practicing Shuriken outside her house, and wondering who she was Neji turned to look at itachi and asked, "Who is that girl?" Neji pointed at the girl practicing her Shuriken.  
"Oh, that's my older sis, her name is Naratashi. Want to meet her?" Itachi smirked. "Well…I don't think so" Neji chuckled nervously while trying to walk past her house quickly.  
"Nah, come on lets meet her, NARA!!" Itachi shouted. He pulled Neji towards his house.  
"Who's that Itachi?" Nara asked.  
"It's my friend" Itachi said proudly.  
"Your friend? Did you have to pay him?" Nara said suspiciously.  
"Erm…no I really am his friend" Neji defended Itachi.  
"Yeah, this is Neji Hirosaki" Itachi told Nara.  
"Hi Neji," Nara said. wiping her sweat with one hand and shaking his hand with the other.  
Neji laughed nervously again, trying not to blush at Nara's beauty. Itachi took one look at his friend's face and started to laugh, then without any notice he pulled Neji away and started to walk towards the main village square.  
"Bye Nee-san" Itachi said waving goodbye to his sis while walking away.  
"Erm……Itachi is she like..." Neji stopped himself from saying anything else, realizing that it might be inappropriate to finish his question.  
"If she's single?" Itachi asked, trying not to laugh at his friend. Itachi just nodded his head to show him that she was.

Reaching the training ground Neji and Itachi saw their team mate Takashi with his panda.  
"So you are Takashi?" Neji asked looking very interested in his panda.  
"Yes," Takashi said shyly, trying to stand his ground against the 2 top students in the academy.  
"So, is sensei here yet?" Itachi asked while looking around his surroundings to assure that no one was around. He was naturally wary of everything around him, he had been raised to be that way thanks to the Uchiha clan.  
"Nope I haven't seen him yet," Takashi said pulling his panda to his side as he saw Neji attempting to ride her.  
"Oh, what's his name?" Neji asked Takashi while trying to sit on the panda.  
"It's a SHE not HE…and HER name is Pandie," Takashi said angrily. He was clearly offended by Neji for mistaking his panda's gender.  
"Oh sorry Takashi, I didn't know u were so sensitive," Neji said sarcastically. Neji started to tickle Pandie, and he was so into the panda that he didn't notice that his sensei was behind him.  
"Neji, it's Uzumaki Arashi," Itachi said trying not to sound too shocked. "Hi guys! Well, I am your new sensei," the guy said. He was tall and towered above his students with a fist on his waist, his short, bristly blond hair surrounded by a Konoha headband. He looked like the Shining Ninja, a comic book character that Neji had read about when he was younger.  
"Oh my God... Arashi Sama is our sensei, but….but you didn't arrive during the assigning of sensei!!!" Neji exclaimed to the blond man.  
"Oh, about that… I was helping some little old man cross the street, and well he had an old cat that needed crossing as well so…" Arashi tried to sound honest, but he wasn't as good at lying as Neji was. Neji was such a skilled liar in fact that he could tell when anyone else was lying.  
"LIES" Neji shouted, "Everyone knows that you are the Yellow Flash, so walking an old man would only take a mere second," Neji scolded his new sensei.  
"Well, he was old so I couldn't…..wait why am I defending myself? Ok guys this is your Initiation test" Arashi said as he started to do some hand seals.  
"Ok this is your first test. To be in team loser this is you must face…Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Arashi shouted, creating clones of himself around the 3 boys. Neji was shocked at how much he underestimated his new sensei. All he had known of him was that he was fast, but he hadn't expected Arashi to go so far as to create 100 clones of himself just to test 3 newly graduated students.  
"What!!! You must be kidding Uzumaki sensei!" Itachi questioned Arashi; Itachi looked around wondering if he could take on all of his sensei's clones.  
"Erm… sensei are there any conditions?" Takashi asked shyly while holding onto Pandie.  
"Well there is only one condition…..anyone who lives to survive this will be in Team Loser," Arashi said in a serious tone, with a face that said he meant it.  
Suddenly, without warning, the clones took their kunai out and shot them at the boys, aiming especially for all vital points.

The rain got heavier as the two men stood there, staring at each other. Neji couldn't think of any other way to escape but to kill his best friend. "Itachi if you don't move away I will have to kill you," Neji tried to sound serious, but at the same time tried to hide his grief and sadness.  
"Neji, of all the times we've been together do you really think you can surpass me?" Itachi said with an evil smile. Itachi closed his eyes and opened them to reveal the legendary sharingan Mangekyou Sharingan.  
"Neji, you either Apologize to Kisuke Sama and swear allegiance to him or..." Itachi's voice got considerably lower as he stared into his friend's eyes, trying to make him understand how serious the situation was.  
"I'm sorry Itachi but…I can't do that, this was supposed to be a mission, nothing more," Neji said with gravity. Neji then closed his eyes and opened them to reveal his own Mangekyou Sharingan. 


	3. Chapter 3 The Test

Chapter 3 The Test

Neji stood there, staring at his "friend" with his eyes, his menacing cursed eyes he hated so much the way he had achieved them, "but it had to be done." That's what he always told himself to rid himself from the guilt of killing his kin's man.  
"So Neji, it is here our 'friendship ends'" Itachi smirked as he took out a kunai and flinged it at Neji with a killer intent.  
As Neji was about to dodge it, Itachi suddenly appeared behind him and held him in place. The kunai pierced Neji's right arm; it wasn't deep enough to be serious, but that didn't mean that it wasn't painful. Neji could bear the pain of a weapon thrown at him, but not the pain of being hurt by his best friend. Itachi laughed at how useless his friend had became, once a top honor guard in Konoha, but now a sorry captive to Itachi's sick plans. Yet without any warning Itachi was struck down by the fist of his former best friend.  
"Enough of this nonsense Itachi, if you still want to act like this I have no choice but to kill you," Neji said, as if hoping to scare Itachi to let him off. They both knew that the skills they had mastered were equal, that the strength they had was equal. Before Neji could turn around and escape, Itachi stood up, steadily gazing at Neji's injured arm.  
"Neji, Neji……You are worthless… just like your Father was" Itachi said lowly as he threw another kunai in Neji's direction. Normally Neji would have shrugged off a comment like Itachi's and treated it as the remark of an ignorant fool, but instead Neji was hurt. It wasn't just that Itachi had insulted Neji's esteemed father, but what hurt was that it came from the mouth of a former best friend. To his the man he had felt was like a brother to him now betray him and rub his honor in the dirt as if they were strangers was like a blow to the gut. Neji took hold of the kunai that was flying in his direction and he lunged at Itachi with the other kunai in his hand, his face beginning to stain with the tears of a man betrayed.

Jumping from side the side, the three boys kept dodging the kunai thrown at them, but every time they narrowly escaped one, they were barely able to dodge the others. At every twist and turn they were faced with another onslaught of Arashi's clones and more knives, daggers, and kunai. Neji tried to tell Itachi that they should split up, but as he turned his head to look for Itachi, he couldn't find him. To make things worse he didn't see the kunai that was flying towards him until it was almost too late. He was sure the kunai might kill him. He was expecting to open his eyes to the Gates of Heaven, but when he opened his eyes, Itachi was standing in front of him, blood trickling down his sleeve.  
"Get up Neji" commanded Itachi as he removed the kunai from his arm. His voice was steady and calm, the voice of a leader who had stood up to take command of a downtrodden army.  
"Are you alright? We can tell Arashi Sama that you are hurt," Neji said as he pushed Itachi towards the forest to get away from the onslaught of kunai and to find a temporary safe zone to recover in.  
"Are you kidding Neji?" Itachi said with a smile on his face "What are you talking about Itachi? You're hurt!" Neji was surprised at Itachi's calm in such a frantic situation. For crying out loud, they were being attacked on all sides by legions of jonin clones, clones that were masters of the Flicker Technique, clones that could kill them so fast that they wouldn't have realized they had been hit.  
"This is what it's like when we are in a real battle field Neji, we have to go back for more," Itachi said with a smirk as he ran back into the training ground to battle another Arashi Sama Bunshin.  
As Neji watched his best friend run towards his enemy without fear, he realized how weak he was compared to Itachi. As he stood up and brushed the sand off his knees, he opened his eyes. If you had been an innocent bystander, you would have witnessed the new boy, a boy with the power of a newly activated Sharingan. A boy would have just opened his Sharingan for the first time. Yet Neji wasn't aware of the new transformation in his eyes, he just felt something different about himself, a difference that was both hard to explain yet he knew it was good. In another part of the forest, Neji's other team mate Takashi was having troubles himself. He knew he couldn't compete with the skills Neji and Itachi had, but he knew his Ninjutsu skills were good enough and he was proud of it. He decided that now was the time to unveil his new self-created jutsu, Panda no Jutsu, though he made sure that no one else was around to witness it, since it was still a secret and a surprise for later.  
After 23 Hours into the training, the three boys still hadn't cleared half of their sensei's bunshin. Dashing through the forest, trying to escape from their "scary" Sensei, the boys found each other and decided to have a little meeting.  
"We can't run away forever," Neji said as he was wrapping his many cuts and injuries in bandages.  
"Yeah that's why I say WE FIGHT" Itachi shouted, trying to encourage his fellow teammates to face their fears.  
"Erm…we can't fight him alone…it's just not possible," Takashi tended his panda's wounds and Pandie cried in pain.  
Neji then saw one of his sensei's bunshin sneaking up towards them.  
"Watch out!" Neji shouted as he pushed Takashi out of the way of his sensei's kunai. Itachi quickly lunged at the bunshin and killed it with his small blade. The clone went "poof" and for the moment, the boys were safe again.  
"I think we should work together," Neji said as he picked himself up. He looked at both of his companions to wait for their answers. Takashi looked at Pandie as if to ask her if she could bear a little more, and as she seemed to say "Yes I can" with her big, black Panda eyes, he turned back to Neji and said with the utmost certainty and courage "Yeah…we have a better chance if we stay together and watch each other's backs." Itachi stared at the both of them with a look of anger. There was a thought going through Itachi's head, a thought full of irritation but he said "We can give it a shot"  
The three boys rested for a little while, then stood up and rushed out of the forest and into the danger their sensei had unleashed upon them.  
As they stood at the edge of the forest they saw a field of bunshin ahead of them, if they had decided to count the amount, it would be over a thousand, or maybe more. The three boys stood there looking towards what may be certain death. They started to feel scared. So blatantly frightened that that they couldn't move an inch, so deathly terrified that the sweat beads on their forehead froze as well, so scared that the knowledge that their lives might suddenly be shortened at such a young age left them without breath. Their bodies tensed, their hearts stopped, yet their minds were frantically racing to find a way out.  
Then without warning, the Bunshin started to lunge towards the three boys without hesitation. They tired to escape but a huge army of their sensei's clones started running from behind them. They are trapped, and the only thing they knew they should do was try to kill as many as they could before they died, to at least leave this world with a bit of honor. The boys closed their eyes and grasped each other hands and ran forward head on to fight their "last battle"  
Just then they felt a small breeze, the breeze that Neji later called, "the sigh of an angel." Neji opened his eyes to see a young blond man standing infront of him, and he quickly let go of his companions' hands. As he looked at their faces he saw Itachi was shocked, while Takashi was relieved. He turned back to this blond man he saw him smiling. Before Neji could say anything the blond man walked up to them and said "You passed," smiling as if it was amusing and not at all nerve-wrecking that three young boys nearly soiled their pants in fear of the god of death. The three boys looked up at their sensei not knowing what to say, they were just dumbfounded, yet slightly grateful to have their young lives given back.  
"What did we do to pass?" Neji asked with a shocked expression.  
"Well this test wasn't for you to kill all my Bunshin," Arashi said as he started walking in circles around the boys, trying to see how much injury he caused to them.  
"But you said we had to defeat all your clones!" Itachi said angrily, as he wondered why he had caused himself and his best friend so much injury just for some silly game his sensei wanted to play with them.  
"It's true, I did say that," Arashi said as he gave them a wide grin.  
"What's so funny? We almost died you know," Takashi said. Neji could see that both his friends were about to kill his sensei; not knowing what to do he pulled Itachi and Takashi back a little to make them cool down. He then asked "What is this test all about sensei"  
Arashi smiled as Neji said that. The smile he gave was one that a teacher gave a student when he asked the right kinds of questions, the kinds of questions that have answers that lead to real knowledge. Arashi walked towards the three boys and ruffled their hair. He answered simply, "teamwork."

Neji stabbed Itachi in the arm with a kunai and then kicked his knee, breaking it. Itachi screamed in pain. He looked like he was about to faint but before he did he grabbed Neji's coat and stared him menacingly in the eyes. He said "You will not escape Neji…Akatsuki will hunt your family down…everyone you love will die…all because of you…" Neji kicked Itachi's hand off his coat and started to walked away, but Itachi shouted 2 names, "Meji……Nara!" Neji marched right back to Itachi and pulled him up by his collar, stared Itachi right in his eyes and said "Itachi…let me show you what my Mangekyou Sharingan can do…" 


	4. Chapter 4 Love

Chapter 4 Love

"Come on Takashi, catch up!" A teenager said jumping from tree to tree chasing for someone. He looked back to see a man running on the ground with his panda.  
"Stop complaining Meji… go on ahead we must find Neji" Takashi yelled back at the spiky, brown-haired boy in the trees. "Just wait a little while longer bro…..I'm coming" Meji said while speeding off towards the light.

Neji returned home to a smiling family. He missed the faces of his mom, dad, and most of all his little brother.  
"Hi Meji!" Neji said happily he placed his hand on his little brother hair and started to ruffle it. "Stop that bro" Meji said as he pushed his brother's hands off his hair. Meji gave his brother a tight hug to welcome him home from his training. "How was your sensei?" Madara asked while putting down the newspaper he was reading. "Well…he nearly killed us" Neji said in all seriousness. He walked to the kitchen to greet his mom, who was busy making dinner. He gave her the tightest hug he had ever given anyone, since he thought of his mom as the most important person to him besides his dad and brother. He knew that if he ever lost them, he would be lost as well.  
"So did you and Takashi get along?" Neji's mom asked while hugging her son with a spatula in one hand.  
"Well in the end, I saved his life and he saved mine, so what's for dinner Mom?" Neji said smiling to his mother.  
"Well…..since you have finally returned…we are going to have some steak…and miso soup" his mother said while smiling at her brave son.  
"Sounds yummy," Neji replied as he left the kitchen to see his brother in the living room playing with his teddy bear.  
"So have you told this 'girl' your name yet? Hehehe…" Neji teased his brother about his crush. "No… she's not JUST a girl… her name is Ayame Uchiha and she's erm…" Meji stopped as he saw his dad peeping through his newspaper trying to listen and his mom leaning out of the kitchen wanting to hear the story.  
About a couple of months ago Meji started Academy School and in his class there was a girl he described as an angel. Her name was Ayame Uchiha, she was a normal Uchiha, had not yet unlocked her Sharingan, and she was an orphan along with her older brother Hiro. Both of them lived in the Uchiha village and since their parents were Uchiha, they were left a house to stay there. Meji sat right behind her in class, everyday trying to get some info about her. He tried telling his name to her once during they recess.  
Meji was at the field playing football with his pals when he saw Ayame getting bullied. So naturally he rushed to her rescue.  
"Hey pick on someone your own size!" Meji shouted, trying to sound heroic, but he suddenly became very frightened when he a creature of black and white. He knew people called it a panda, and so he stared at this panda for what seemed 5 minutes trying to seem brave. He clenched his fist and was about to punch the panda when this girl ran out from behind the panda to stop him. "Hey, are you thinking of hitting my panda!?" the girl cracked her knuckles menacingly.  
"Stop bullying Ayame!" Meji replied while checking his surroundings making sure that the other boys and girls didn't surround him and cage him in with this scary girl and her panda. "Well for your info, Ayame is my best friend and we were playing. BUT I can't just let you hit my panda little boy," The girl pushed Meji to the ground.  
"Stop it Fidget, leave Meji alone," Ayame said. She stretched out her hand wanting to pull Meji up.  
Meji started to cry and brushed Ayame's hand aside. He stood up and started to run away from Ayame and her friends.  
"He's a weird kid Ayame…but he seems to be a crybaby hehehe" Fidget said while giggling and petting her panda.  
"Well he was just trying to defend me Fidget," Ayame said, trying to defend Meji's honor.  
Although Meji was crying, he was happy since Ayame had known his name and that was all he wanted to know. But ever since that day Meji followed Ayame home almost everyday, except he wasn't next to her like he wanted to be. He was sneaky, very sneaky; he would shift from tree to tree and stalked her shadow while watching her. On some occasions when she is playing with Fidget at the lake he would sit on a tree gazing at her.  
One day while he was looking at her from a treetop from afar, his brother caught him.  
"MEJI wad are you looking at?" Neji shouted at Meji. Meji was shocked from the tone and he fell off the tree right into Ayame's backyard, although Ayame didn't see him, her brother Hiro did. Hiro was Ayame's brother, about one year younger than Neji and Itachi, although he was shy at times he was very protective about his sister, and well lets just say he hated Meji ever since that peeping incident. Hiro chased Meji all over town only to be stopped by Neji. Although Neji was trying to sound serious when he tried to explain to Hiro why Meji was there, every time he looked at Meji's face he would laugh.  
Yes, Meji was in love with Ayame, and although he didn't admit it, his brother knew because he too loved someone but he was too shy to tell her. It was truly the Hirosaki legacy for the men to be shy little boys around girls.  
Ever since the first time Neji laid eyes on Naratashi, he loved her. People would always tease him on how quickly he had fallen for her, even Itachi made fun of him, but although he made fun of Neji he helped with his love issue. Once Itachi brought along Naratashi for a training session with Neji, for example. However, when it was Neji's turn to fight her, he lost all concentration and got beaten every time.  
In the living room, Madara looked at Meji and said "My son…don't involve yourself with the girls….believe me they will rip the heart right out of you and eat it," Madara said in a low voice, but that didn't help him. His wife still heard him and threw her metal spatula at his head. She went up to Meji and said "Son… girls are there to love you and to protect you. If you play your cards right you might end up loving them so much that you might give your life to them…..unlike your dad," His mother glared at his dad while taking the spatula off Madara's head. Neji smiled at Meji and walked off to take a bath, and so Meji sat there all alone. Well not exactly alone, but next to his dad who was now pretending to be dead after being swatted with the spatula so many times. Meji stared out of the window thinking of Ayame, looking towards the stars and wishing that she was doing the exact same thing……but what he didn't know was that she really was doing the exact same thing as he was. Ayame had always known that Meji was stalking her…  
"Dinner's ready!" Mom shouted while sitting down and getting ready to eat.

"Brother…" Meji said as he saw his brother soaked in blood and holding Itachi's collar. When he tried to pull his brother away, he saw Itachi's eyes lose their redness. A normal Sharingan was as red as the dawning sun, but Itachi's Sharingan was fading, so Meji knew it could only mean one thing…Neji did something to Itachi that no Uchiha should do to another. Neji was unconscious from the lack of blood and Meji had to carry him on his back. Although Neji wasn't aware of whom or what was carrying him, he felt comfort and that was all he wanted to feel, sp he let himself go back to the unconsciousness, back into the black of his dreamless mind. 


End file.
